Page 20 of Ties of Starlight

He did so slowly, a glare in his eyes. “I'm your husband. You can call me by my name.”

She'd rather do anything and everything she could to put more distance between them. So she ignored him as she glanced around the tent while starting to finish taking down her hair. There was only one bed, so she was going to have to find a spot on the floor.

After he washed the paint off his face, he let out a sigh and just shed his stiff outerwear, tossing it to the groundbeside her dress, and before she could blink, he was in front of her. “Here, let me.”

Before she could ask what he could be talking about, he was pulling her hands out of her hair and moving to pull out pins and unfurl braids and twists, freeing her long hair.

Her breath caught in her throat as he shifted closer, much taller than her, and there was nothing for her to look at but him. His touch was surprisingly gentle as he removed the pins and braids. He spoke in a low murmur, “And don't even think about it, Idonea. I'll sleep on the floor.”

Oh. That was… kind of him. Or maybe he was just as horrified by the idea of her, he would do anything to ensure it didn’t happen.

“I—Fine,” Idonea whispered as the last of her hair came free and he shifted back just enough that he could drape it over her shoulders, fingers twisting the ends and not pulling back. She lifted her chin so she could look him in the eyes. “I assumed you would want to be as far from me as possible. I wouldn't want my half-human qualities to offend you by subjecting you to being near me, Your Majesty.”

He immediately dropped her hair and stepped back. Something hot flared, crashing against her wall. He turned away from her, grabbed a blanket off the foot of the bed, and set about making a space for himself on the floor. Idonea took the slight victory it was and moved to the bed, crawling beneath the covers as Nyrunn pulled his blanket over him, turned his back to her, and with a wave of his hand, extinguished the starlight.

In the darkness, she heard the sounds of music and voices of the court celebrating the wedding nearby.

And the king of Adastra was sleeping on the ground by the entrance of the tent.

So even if she did decide to run away now that this lifewas another in a long line of failures, she wouldn't be able to without alerting him.

Besides, it was too late. The Star Elves needed the ritual to be completed this time. She'd at least finish for them and their magic before she decided what to do with this life.

Being King Nyrunn's wife wasn't going to be it.

Chapter 8

Nyrunn could chalk his lack of sleep up to the fact that his people didn't usually sleep so early in the night to stay awake all day, but since he hadn't slept a wink the night before either, he knew it had nothing to do with that.

It had everything to do with his wife, asleep a few feet away from him. His wife who thought he hated her. Who thought he found her repulsive. Who wanted another man.

Nyrunn tossed and turned until he finally ended up just facing her. He could see her faint outline even in the darkness thanks to the copious amount of starlight outside trickling in through the thin canvas of their tent.

So...

Frode had been right.

This was a bad idea, but it was too late to change anything.

He ran his fingers over the lines binding him to a woman who hated him. Who had absolutely no idea he’d been in love with her for years.

He was still trying to wrap his mindaround it. Around the fact that he'd been so completely wrong. He'd been so blind.

And apparently misreading every interaction he'd ever had with her.

He'd thought it'd been more than obvious his affection for her, at least obvious to her. He'd had to keep it quiet when his father was alive in order to protect her.

If his father had known… Idonea wouldn’t have lived long enough to even have a chance at being part of the Cometa Couple.

But to think that the countless times he'd gone to the library, a flimsy excuse in hand for anyone who might overhear, and never had she realized he was there to see her. What he always thought was playful teasing and flirting she'd been storing up as insults and evidence of immature hate.

He still didn’t understand.

“You know, there’s no shame in simply asking one of us to reach that for you. What good is our height if you don’t let us make use of it?”

She’d stubbornly ignored him even as her cheeks had flooded red while she kept climbing the ladder and shoved the book back into place, earning a laugh from him when she’d flashed him a triumphant grin. Didn’t she realize he’d been saying that simply to keep her off that rickety old ladder that was bound to snap one day and break her neck?

“Little lily, you should wear your hair like that more often. It suits you.”

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